Process of burning natural and other gases.



B. E. BLDRED. PROCESS OF BURNING NATURAL AND OTHER G was.

APPLICATION FILED APR. 8, 1906.

' Patented Sept. 16, 191 3.

INVENTOR WITNESSES: X. 2 MM 5%, a. M.

UNIT D srA'rns PATENT orrrcn BYRON E. ELDRED, or BRONXVILLE, NEW YORK, AssIo'NoR T ooMBUsTIoN UTILITIES coMrANY, or NEW YORK, N. Y., A CORPORATION on NEW YORK.

PROCESS OF BURNING NATURAL AND OTHER GASES.

7 To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, BYRON E. Elam no, a. citizen of the United States, residing at Bronxville, in the county of Westchester and State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Processes of Burning Natural and other Gases,

of which the following specification and accompanying drawings illustrate the invention in a form which I now regard as the best out of the various forms in which it may be embodied.

This invention relates to the combustion or preexisting or previously-unignited fuelgas; and especially the natural gas which issues from the earth in various localities.

The invention is designed to provide a method of tempering the heat of combustion of this and other gases which burn with a high temperature; difl'using and retarding the combustion to form a slow-burning,- d ilated flame, and making the fuel-value of: the gas more effective in various heating operations requiring flame temperature.

Itis well known that natural gas possesses a comparatively low a very high calorific power and burns with an intense heat. My present invention enables it to be burned with an inflated and longer flame and brings it on a par in the matter of flame temperature with wealrer artificial gases, thus making it possible to burn the gas in direct contact with the materials to be heated in various operations.

The drawingrep-resen-ts an apparatus organized for carryin out my invention for burning the bricks in a brick-kiln. Referring thereto, 1 represents abriclekiln of an ordinary down-draft typean'd 2, 3', 4 represent the discharge tunnel and stack leading therefrom for discharging waste products of combustion. From the stack 4 a returnconduit 5 leads back to the kiln I and enters the same at a point 16 equivalent to the location of the usual fire-box. Branches may lead to a plurality of points or seats of combustion distributed in the usual manner. Conduit 5 10 contains a fan-blowerfi and on the suction side thereof an air-br nch inlet 7, said conduit in the trunk and a r inlet thereotback ot the fan having valves or da'mpers 8', 9 for regulating the proportion of air and stack-gases in the draft-current going to-th'e'fire. A damper-'11 likewise con trols'the delivery-pipe. At 12 the detivery- Spec'i-fication 0! Letters Patent.

Patented Sept. 16, 1913.

Application filed April 8, 1905. Serial No. 254,475.

I pipe enters a nozzle-section 13 througl.

which passes a pipe 14 containing a stopvalve 15 and leading to the seat of combustion 16 for conducting natural gas to said seat. Conduit 18 leads the mixed gases to the top of the kiln and is formed by an apron wall 19. Beyond the apron wall bricks 20 are stacked in a well understood way.-

In operation the natural gas entering the kiln 1 through pipe 14: is mixed at the point 16 with a certain proportion of fresh air and products of substantially complete combustion delivered by pipe 10 under forced draft, the regulation of the relative propor- 1 tions of the three ingredients of the gas mix ture being done by appropriate setting of valves 7, 8, 11 and 15. The volume of stackgases mixed with the air is equivalent to only a small proportion of the total volume of these gases passing through the stack. The products of combustion serve to dilute the natural gas, delay the combustion which would otherwise instantly take place from its union with air when ignited, lengthen and inflate the flame, and reduce the natural temperature of combustion. The flame, besides being rendered cooler by dilution of the combustible and hence more fit for direct contact with the materials, such as the bricks in the kiln shown, in various operations, is

-1nore effectively employed since combustion Experience with flames inflated and diluted with carbon dioxid has shown me, as in tl-ie similar flames of my prior Patent No.

692,257, Feb; 4:, 1902, that'in order to secure complete and reasonably rapid combustion it is necessary to burn' them in near contact with hotrefractory material. with, orin proximity to, such material, however, they burn with full development of heat. Advantage is taken of this fact in the procedure, the air and gas introduced into the kiln with the fiorm'er' in the necessary In contact present; invention Wiile in the ordinary forming 00 with the o of the fuel. The,

excess to prevent sooting, burn together at the point of meeting with the full development of heat at such point forming a small localized area of intense combustion, yet by adding the neutral diluent afforded by the stack gases to the gas and air, the combusgases, it is generated at the place whereit is desired. In the ordinary practice relying on sensible heat, this heat is given up to the first cooler objects encountered, in the brick kiln to the first layers of brick. The result is that some brick are overburned and others underburned. To produce this result, the amount of stack gases need be only a small modicum of the amount of air, their carbondioxid being an active retardant of combustion. In my previous Patent No. 692,257,

I accomplished a similar result in another manner, forcinga mixture of air and stack gases, preferabl lime kiln gases as richer in carbon dioxid, t rough a shallow bed of fuel at a rate faster than the fuel could react therewith so that part of the draft current of air and stack gases passed through unchanged to mingle with the combusti 1e gas .formed by the action of the rest of the air and stack gases upon the fuel, both the O and the C 2 of this portion of the draft resultant mixture of gases was burned, as in this invention, in contact with refractory material; specifically, in contact with limestone in the specific embodiment described in said patent. I have now discovered ,in

the present invention that a similar result can be attained by a directmixture of air,

necess1ty of generatingthe latter ig admix: ture with the former.

What I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. The rocess of producing .a diffused heating w1th rich combustible gases of high calorific value which consists in mixing such gas with a predetermined proportion of a neutral gaseous diluent and of a regulated amount of air, producing a slow-burning flame from. such diluted gas, and accelerating and completing its combustion by heat radiated from a hot-walled region of re fractory material and in direct contact with such'material, g

\2. The process of producing a diifused heating w1th rich combustiblegases of high calorific value which consists in-mixing such gas with apredetermm'ed proportlon'of the stack'gases and combustible gas without the products of substantially complete combustion and of air, producing a slow-burning flame from such diluted gas, and accelerating and completing its combustion by heat radiated from a hot-walled region of refractory material and in direct contact with such material.

3. The process of producing a difl'used heating with rich combustible gases of high calorific value which consists in mixing such gas with a predetermined proportion of hot pro-ducts of substantially complete combustion and of air, producing a slow-burning flame from such dilutedgas, and accelerating and completing its combustion by heat radiated from a hot-walled region of refractory material and in direct contact with such material.

4:. The process of producing a difl'used heating with rich combustible gases of high calorific value which consists in diluting such gas with a predetermined proportion of products of substantially complete combustion and of air, producing a slow-burning flame from; such diluted\ gas, and accelerating and completing its combustion in a hot-walled region of refractory material in contact .with such material.

5. The process of producing a diffused heating in a brick kiln which consistsin diluting a rich combustible gasof high calorific value. with a predetermined proportion of products of substantially complete combustion and of air, producmg a slow-burning flame from such diluted gas, and accelerating and completin its combustion in the hot-walled regions 0 ered by the spaces between the bricks, in a brick kiln and in contact with such bricks.

6. The process of producing a diflt'use'd heating with natural gas which consists in diluting such gas with a predetermined proportion of products of substantially complete combustion and of air, producing a slow-burning flame from such diluted gas and accelerating and completing its combustion in a hot-walledregion of refractory material in contact with such material.

7. The process of producing a diffused heating in a brick kiln which consists in diluting natural gas with a predetermined proportion of the products of substantially complete combustion and of air, producing a slow-burning flame from such dlluted gas, and accelerating and com leting its combustion in the hot-walled regions ofiered by the spaces betweenthe bricks in a brick kiln and in contact with such bricks.

8. The process of producing a diflused heating in a brick kiln which consists in diluting natural gas with .a predeterminedproportion of a noncombustible diluent I gas and of air, producing a slow-burmng ame from such diluted gas, and accelerating and completing itsrcombustion in the hot-walled regions offered by the spaces between the bricks in a brick 'ln and in contact with such bricks.

9. The process of burning bricks which comprises producing a slow-burning flamefrom a mixture of regulated and predetermined proportions of combustible gas, products of substantially complete combustion and air, extending such flame within a brick kiln, and completing itscombustion in and 2 among the bricks and in contact therewith.

10. The process of producing a difiused heating in a brick kiln which comprises mixing regulated and proportioned amounts of air and products of substantially complete combustion, admixing a combustible gas in regulated and proportioned amounts with the mixture thus produced, forming a slow-burning flame from the admixture, extending such flame within a brick kiln, and

completing its combustion in and among the bricks therein and in contact therewith.

11. The process of producinga diffused heating which comprises produclng a slowburning flame from a mixture of regulated and predetermined portions of combustible gas, products of substantially complete comwitnesses, the 1st day of April 1905.

BYRON E. ELDRED.

Witnesses:

JAS. K. CLARK, R. M. PIERsoN. 

